Life and politics from the Sunshine State's best city

Agency for Health Care Administration

Pointing to “impossible” timeframes, an industry group has filed a legal challenge to new requirements by Gov. Rick Scott‘s administration that nursing homes and assisted-living facilities quickly install generators to power air-conditioning systems.

With time running out to comply with what could be a $240 million generator mandate handed down by Gov. Rick Scott, nursing-home administrators and long-term care lobbyists left a Tuesday meeting without an indication of what, if anything the state will do to help offset the costs.

A Broward County nursing home has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Gov. Rick Scott‘s administration from cutting off Medicaid payments and carrying out a moratorium on patient admissions after the deaths of nine of the facility’s residents following Hurricane Irma.

Calling the deaths of eight seniors last week an “isolated incident,” a nursing-home industry group will hold a meeting Friday to discuss a move by Gov. Rick Scott to require nursing homes to be equipped with generators to power air-conditioning systems when electricity goes out. The Florida Health Care Association will host an emergency-preparedness “summit” in Tallahassee. Scott on Saturday directed the state Agency for Health Care Administration and the Department of Elder Affairs to issue emergency rules that would…

A South Florida senator has filed the first bill in response to the deaths of eight nursing home residents this week after Hurricane Irma knocked out their air conditioning. Sen. Lauren Book, a Plantation Democrat, filed the measure (SB 284) on Friday afternoon. Among other things, it would require the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) “to determine compliance with standards for electricity and emergency power sources during the routine inspection of a licensed nursing home facility.”

After eight South Florida nursing home residents died when Hurricane Irma knocked out their power, Gov. Rick Scott announced on Thursday night he had directed state officials to block the facility from receiving any further Medicaid payments.